On the last day of my Hokkaido trip, I went back to Sapporo to do some last minute eating and shopping before taking the night train back to Honshu. The streets were exceptionally empty and a lot of the stores were closed early. On my way back to the JR station, I walked pass the well lit Odori Park and realized it was the annual Sapporo Beer Garden night.
Odori Park is huge, it spans 13 blocks in the centre of Sapporo. Everyone in Sapporo (of legal drinking age) was there. No wonder the streets were so empty.
It took me almost five months to finish sorting out all the photos and videos from the Hokkaido trip, not to mention video editing is a time-sucking dark hole itself. Let’s get this done and not carry any overdue tasks to 2009. Continue Reading…
Posted 9 months, 4 weeks ago at 1:08 pm. 0 comments
After endless hours on the train, I arrived Hokkaido Sapporo finally at 6 a.m. I have been to Sapporo before, so I didn’t need to rush my way doing sightseeing. I went to Shikotsuko Lake in the morning, had a ramen of my life at Keyaki, then went to Kani Shogun for dinner with a girl I met at the youth hostel. I wish I am a teacher just like her, and spend months traveling when school is out in the summer.
The most interesting part might be the experience of taking a night train from Honshu to Hokkaido.
The cheap seat-only carts (like this one) were filled by mostly tourists, whereas the couchettes (bed carts) were occupied by locals. I had no problem sleeping on the reclined seat, but it got uncomfortably cold at night and I had to wrap myself in pants (didn’t bring a jacket).
How to go to Hokkaido with a JR Pass:
17:56 – 21:00 Tokyo => Hachinohe
21:17 – 22:18 Hachinohe => Aomori
22:45 – 06:07 Aomori => Sapporo
It’s not exactly fun, but that’s the cheapest way to do it since it’s fully covered by the JR Pass. Plus I got to save money on a night of accommodation. Now that I have done it once, I might do it again.
Arriving Sapporo at 6 a.m. was harsh, but I will save that for the next post.
Posted 10 months, 1 week ago at 12:13 am. 0 comments
For the longest time, my website would show up as the first result if you search for kanidouraku in google. Not anymore. I need to go there more often.
Posted 10 months, 3 weeks ago at 2:10 pm. 1 comment
On the third day, Random Jon woke up and decided it would be a good day to visit Disneyland. I went unprepared, with only an uncharged battery in my point-and-shoot. The indicator was red and empty by noon.
Space Mountain was still the best ride. Well worth the wait compare to the other ones that I can’t even recall.
By using the “wait a few seconds and turn it on again” technique repeatedly, I was able to take a bunch of 1 or 2 seconds clip at night. By the end of the parade, my camera did not even have enough power to retract the lens.
One thing I noticed though, teenage Japanese girls are way more into Disney characters than others. During the parade(s), they screamed out Mickey’s name and flapped their arms, as if they saw Justin Timberlake or something. Oh, and the blue rat is huge in Japan.
I was pretty disorganized during my trip and did not upload all the photos and videos. The complete albums for Day 1 and Day 2 are up now. For those who have been following my Flickr, there are not a lot of new photos but I added many videos.
I made an effort to take lots of videos during this trip, since most of you have seen too many of my repetitive Tokyo photos in the past. Editing videos takes time, but it is a good way to fight jetlags.
